On my drive back yesterday from spending the weekend at Euphoria in Greenville, SC, I reflected on everything I ate, drank, and saw (and didn’t see). I kept coming back to, why can’t these food festivals be more family friendly and how can they support under-aged chefs? 

During the weekend, I ate and drank great food from chefs and hospitality professionals from around the Southeast region. My son Jasper was with me this weekend, which made for a new experience at a wine and food festival and gave me the opportunity to incorporate him more into my professional life and introduce him to my peers and mentors. 

During the course of balancing attending tastings, demos, dinners, and expos I also balanced parenthood. Most of Euphoria is 21 plus, which meant Jasper couldn’t come with me everywhere. That is when it hit me, something that is missing from most food festivals is the connection to family and the opportunity to show that restaurant and hospitality professionals are also parents and have families of their own. I also started to think about when was the last time I saw a food festival incorporate family and children components to their festival lineup. I can’t think of one. 

The value of food festivals is the exposure chefs, restaurants, and brands gain. It also celebrates the culinary and hospitality talents and provides a space for professionals to network and commune together. But, it would also be a great opportunity for food festivals to invest in the younger demographic and find creative ways to introduce young palates to new foods. It would also be meaningful to create a space for industry families to participate in activities as a unit, sharing memories and improving the work life culture of this industry. These food festivals have an opportunity to be a platform that create hands-on experiences for children and youth and provide under-age chefs the chance to be showcased. 

A common conversation among industry folks at Euphoria this year was the challenges of finding talent. If we start integrating underaged talents at these festivals then we would see a greater interest from them in a professional manner. There is a movement in the industry trying to improve the work life balance and support industry families. We need to creatively think of how to improve the growth of the restaurant and hospitality industry and if that means to start restructuring food festivals to support families and to expose a younger demographic then we should take that opportunity. –Justin Burke-Samson